leadership programme asia pacific 2012 module 2 communicating change

Leadership Programme Asia Pacific 2012

Module 2

Communicating Change

Leadership Programme Asia Pacific 2012 | Module 2 | No. 2

Communicating Change•Communicating the change vision•What to communicate•Target audience – stakeholder mapping•Delivering the messages


Communicating change

• Communicate the vision to people through every means possible – there is no such thing as over-communicating information about the change initiative

• In communicating the vision, be very specific about how the change will improve the business, for example, by delivering greater customer satisfaction, product quality, or sales revenues

• If possible, explain how these improvements will also benefit employees, for instance, by making it possible for people to develop their careers and have new opportunities for advancement


Deciding what to communicate– what are the core messages?

• What the change programme is, and what the key goals are:• What the change is• What the organisation plans to achieve• How it will improve the business• And, importantly, how the change will benefit employees

• Why the change is taking place:• The business reasons underpinning the change programme,

options considered and why you selected the solution you did


Deciding what to communicate – what are the core messages?

• What are the challenges – what hurdles stand in the way:• Help people become aware of the potential barriers to success so

they can anticipate them better• What the success criteria are, and how success will be measured:

• Define successful implementation of the change programme• Establish clear, understandable measures

• How people will be rewarded for success:• Be very clear about how people will be rewarded (monetary or

non-monetary) for the added work, disruption and sacrifices the change programme requires


Who are the audience?

• Identify your key stakeholders – those who will be directly affected by the change• In the Subsea case, not only the executive team but all 800 +

employees spread across the world• External stakeholders – customers, suppliers, strategic partners

• Anticipate their reaction or response to the change messages – both positive and negative reaction:• Will they be supporters, enthusiastic embracers of change?• Or simply neutral?• Or might they be sceptical or resist change?


Stakeholder Mapping


Stakeholder mapping

• Step 1: identify who your key stakeholders are• Step 2: prioritise your stakeholders, work out their impact, influence

and interest in your work, task, project, or programme• Step 3: understand their needs, concerns, priorities, hot buttons,

etc. – ‘who they are’ and ‘their view of the world’ – so you can empathise with their situation and positions and influence them appropriately and win them over

• Step 4: plan your communication strategy and tactics to engage with your key stakeholders, build trust and develop effective positive relationships


Identifying and prioritising your stakeholders- the power-interest matrix

High

Low

HighLow

Keepsatisfied

Manageclosely

Monitor(minimum effort)

Keepinformed


Delivering the message

• Use diverse communication channels:• Company-wide meetings• Team meetings• Focus group meetings• One-on-one meetings• Hosted off-site events• Email memos• Web, social media, internal blogs• Company ezine• Press releases

• There is no such thing as over-communicating information about change!


Key elements of an effective change communication plan

• Keep it simple: eliminate all jargon and techno-babble• Use metaphors, analogies and examples: a verbal picture is worth a thousand

words• Use many different forums: big meetings, smaller team meetings, one-on-one

meetings, memos, intranet portal, social media, ezines, formal and informal interaction

• Repeat, repeat, repeat: ideas sink in deeply only after they’ve been heard several times

• Walk the talk – lead by example: behaviour by important people that is inconsistent with the vision overwhelms other forms of communication

• Explicitly address seeming inconsistencies: unaddressed inconsistencies undermine credibility

• Listen and be listened to: two-way communication is always more powerful than one-way communication


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leadership programme asia pacific 2012 module 2 communicating change

Documents

change messages

change visionwhat

change iswhat

change initiativein

key stakeholders arestep

help people

success criteria

core messages